Pole guards



June 5, 1956 E. M. HARRINGTON ETAL 2,749,380

POLE GUARDS 2 Sheets-Sheet Filed Aug. 31, 1951 June 5, 1956 E, M. HARRINGTON ETAL 2,7495% POLE GUARDS Filed Aug. 61, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent POLE GUARDS Edward M. Harrington and Edward N. Anderson, St.

Louis, Mo., assignors to James R. Kearney Corporation, St. Louis, Mo., a corporation of Missouri Application August 31, 1951, Serial No. 244,632 2 Claims. (Cl. 174-5) This invention relates generally to pole guards and more specifically to pole guards of the type adapted for use in preventing the upper portion of a pole being erected or removed, from accidentally coming into contact with an adjacent energized, high voltage line, the predominant object of the invention being to provide such a pole guard which is of simple construction and arrangement and which is capable of performing its intended function in a highly efficient manner.

As is well known to persons familiar with such matters, poles for supporting power transmission lines are treated with creosote and such treatment renders a pole a rather good conductor of electricity. As a result of this situation a number of fatalities have occurred because the top portion of a creosoted pole being erected or removed accidentally swung into contact with an adjacent energized, high voltage, power transmission line, with a resultant passage downwardly of the pole of high voltage current to the workers handling the pole at the lower end portion thereof. The guard of the present invention provides insulating protection that positively prevents the upper portion of the pole from contacting with an adjacent power line in the event said upper portion of the pole is accidentally subjected to swinging movement, whereby the workers on the ground are protected from injury which might result if the pole contacted an adjacent power line and current passed through the pole to ground.

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the pole guard of the present invention showing same applied to a portion of a pole.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged, top, plan view of the assembly shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary section taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged, fragmentary side elevation of the improved pole guard looking in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 2 and showing the guard applied to the upper portion of a pole.

in the drawings, wherein is shown for purposes of illustration, merely, one embodiment of the invention, A designates the improved pole guard generally. The pole guard A is made up of a pair of units 1 and 2, the unit 1 comprising a pair of vertically disposed, corner sticks 3 and a plurality of vertically spaced, pole-engaging members 4. The corner sticks 3 preferably, though not necessarily, are round in cross-section and said sticks may be formed from insulating wood which has been treated to improve the electrical insulating characteristics thereof, and said sticks have one or more coatings of insulating varnish applied thereto. The pole-engaging members 4 of the unit 1 are also formed from insulating wood, treated to improve the electrical insulating characteristics thereof and provided with one or more coatings of insulating varnish. It will be noted by referring particularly to Fig. 2 that each of the pole-engaging members 4 is provided with a recess 5 having inclined side walls 5a and a straight bottom wall 5b. Also, each pole-engaging member 4 is provided with arcuate seats 6 at the opposite outer corners thereof which receive the sticks 3.

The pole-engaging members 4 are secured at their opposite ends to the respective sticks 3 by means of bolts '7 which extend through openings 8 formed through said pole-engaging members and through openings 9 which are formed through the sticks and are alined with the openings 8. The openings 8 formed through the poleengaging members 4 are provided with countersunk portions 3' that receive the heads of the bolts 7, said bolt heads contacting with shoulders at the junction of the opening portions 8 and 8. Also, the sticks 3 are provided with cavities 10 in which are disposed washers 11 and nuts 12 associated with the bolts 7, and the countersunk portions 8 preferably are closed by plugs 80.

The unit 2 of the pole guard A is constructed and arranged just as is the unit 1, as explained above; that is to say, said unit 2 includes a pair of vertical sticks 13 to which are secured by bolts 14 a plurality of vertically spaced pole-engaging members 15. The sticks 13 are provided with recesses 16 that receive the washers 17 and nuts 18 of the bolts 14, while the bolts 14 extend through openings 19 formed through portions of the pole-engaging members 15 and through openings 20 formed through the sticks 13 and arranged in alinement with the openings 19. Likewise the openings 19 are provided with countersunk portions 19' to receive the heads of the bolts 14 and these countersunk opening portions are closed by plugs 19a. The pole-engaging members 15 of the unit 2 are provided each with a recess 21 having inclined side walls 21a and a straight bottom wall 21b.

The units 1 and 2 are drawn toward each other by means of tensioning assemblies 22 and 23 which are arranged at opposite sides of the pole guard A. The tensioning assemblies each comprises a pair of lengths of flexible material, webbing, for instance, which is impregnated with insulating and waterproofing varnish. The particular structure illustrated by the drawings includes three of the tensioning assemblies located at one side of the guard structure, and three of the tensioning assemblies located at the opposite side of the guard structure, although, obviously, the structure may be provided with a greater or less number of tensioning assemblies, if desired. In the case of the tensioning assemblies 22 each thereof includes a double thickness length of material 22a which is secured to one of the sticks 3 at one end of said length of material by means of a bolt 24, and at its opposite end the length of material 220 of each tensioning assembly 22 is provided with a buckle 22b. Likewise each tensioning assembly 22 includes a length of material 220 which is secured at one end thereof to one of the sticks 13 by means of a bolt 25, and said length of material 220 is attached to the length of material 22a by means of the buckle 22b.

Likewise, the tensioning assemblies 23 comprises each a double thickness length of material 23a which is secured at one end thereof to one of the sticks 13 by means of a bolt 26, and is provided at its opposite end with a buckle 23b. Also, each tensioning assembly 23 includes a length of material 230 that is secured at one end thereof, by means of a bolt 27, to one of the sticks 3 and at its opposite end is attached to the length of material 23a by means of the buckle 23b.

By referring to Figs. 1 and 5 it will be noted that the sticks 3 and 13 are each made up of two sections of approximately equal length and that the two sections of each stick are hinged together by hinge members 28 that are hingedly connected by a hinge pin 29. The hinge members 23 illustrated in the drawings are of the well known type that includes a pin 30 for locking said hinge members in positions where they are alined with each other, said pin being adapted to be depressed to unlock the hinge members and permit them to be moved hingedly with respect to each other, as is suggested by broken lines in Fig. 5. Because of the presence of the hinge members 29 in the sticks 3 and 13 it is obvious that the pole guard may be folded for storage in a truck or elsewhere so that the length thereof is very greatly reduced.

In applying the pole guard to a pole, the lengths of material or" the tensioning assemblies 22 or 23 are buckled together, the lengths of material of other tensioning assemblies being unbuckled, and the guard is passed laterally about the upper portion of the pole, after which the lengths of material of the other tensioning assemblies are buckled together. The lengths of material of all of tensioning assemblies are then drawn tight and are buckled so as to force the pole-engaging members 4 and into close contact with the surface of the pole and thus by frictional engagement maintain the pole guard mounted in fixed position with respect to the pole. In like manner, when the pole guard is to be removed from a pole that has been erected the lengths of material of the tensioning assemblies at one side only of the pole are unbuckled and the guard is moved laterally from the pole by spreading the pole-engaging members at the unbuckled side of the guard. It is important to note that because the units 1 and 2 of the guard A are buckled to gether when the guard is being applied to or removed from a pole, the guard is in unitary form and hence is much easier to handle than would be the case if two separate units had to be manipulated. With the improved pole guard mounted at the upper end portion of a pole it is obvious that the upper portion of a pole being erected or removed cannot accidentally swing into contact with an adjacent energized power line because if such surging movement takes place a portion of the guard will contact with the power line and will hold the pole away from such power line so as to prevent passage of current from the energized line to the pole.

We claim:

1. An insulating line pole guard comprising a pair of units including each a pair of vertically disposed sticks, a plurality of pole-engaging members secured to said pair of sticks, and a plurality of tensioning members arranged at two opposite sides only of the guard, each tensioning member comprising a pair of flexible elements, one flexible element of each tensioning member being secured at an end thereof to a vertical stick of one of said units and the other flexible element of said tensioning member being secured at an end thereof to a vertical stick of the other of said units, and fastening devices forming parts of said tensioning members and adapted to attach together the flexible elements thereof, said guard being capable of being opened at either of two opposed sides thereof for application to or removal from a pole without disturbing the tensioning member at the side of the guard opposite to the side at which the guard is opened by unfastening the flexible elements of the tensioning member at such side and without unfastening the flexible elements of the tensioning member at the opposite side of the guard.

2. An insulating line pole guard comprising a pair of units including each a pair of vertically disposed sticks, a plurality of pole-engaging members secured to said pair of sticks, said pole-engaging members being provided with pole securing recesses formed therein having inclined side walls and straight bottom walls, and a plurality of tensioning members arranged at two opposite sides only of the guard, each tensioning member comprising a pair of flexible elements, one flexible element of each tensioning member being secured at an end thereof to a vertical stick of one of said units and the other flexible element of said tensioning member being secured at an end thereof to a vertical stick of the other of said units, and fastening devices forming parts of said tensioning members and adapted to attach together the flexible elements thereof, said guard being capable of being opened at either of two opposed sides thereof for application to or removal from a pole without disturbing the tensioning member at the side of the guard opposite to the side at which the guard is opened by unfastening the flexible elements of the tensioning member at such side and without unfastening the flexible elements of the tensioning member at the opposite side of the guard.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 88l,682 Harrison et al. Mar. 10, 1908 1,469,989 Bush Oct. 9, 1923 1,672,476 Tipsord et al. June 5, 1928 2,534,170 Hubbard Dec. 12, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 444,859 France Aug. 19, 1912 

